Morning Star. Charlotte Hubbard

replied.

      “If you need more display space for your goodies, Jo, you could put them on rolling shelves that you wheel out in front of your bakery,” Rose suggested.

      Jo nodded, trying not to become overwhelmed by the planning she had to do—and the equipment she’d need to purchase—in the next few weeks. “We all have a lot of ideas spinning in our heads now, ain’t so?”

      The zap-zap-zap of nail guns reverberated inside the stable as the men on the roof resumed their work, so the women took that as their cue to return to the wagons. Jo heard Riley barking again. As she followed the dog’s progress toward the front gate, a couple of men she didn’t recognize were approaching in a buggy.

      “Do we need to ask Pete to keep his dog at home?” she asked her companions.

      When the long-legged passenger of the buggy hopped down to play with Riley, however, Jo felt relieved that he hadn’t been put off by the dog’s ruckus. He was a nice-looking young man, slender yet muscular—and when the driver stepped down from the buggy, it was immediately apparent that they were father and son.

      “Ah, it’s the Wengerds!” Martha Maude said as she hurried in their direction. “Nelson and Michael, welcome! It’s gut you could come today!”

      “These guys own the nursery over near Queen City,” Jo explained to Rose. They followed Martha Maude, who was gesturing toward the wagons where the refreshments had been laid out.

      “We still have some goodies left—and lunch will arrive around noon,” Martha Maude was saying. “Please help yourselves and we’ll show you around. This is Rose Wagler—and Jo Fussner, who’s managing The Marketplace. Jo, Nelson and Michael Wengerd have come to look things over.”

      Jo nodded at the two men, immediately liking their cordial smiles. “And this is my mother, Drusilla Fussner, who baked some of that coffee cake you see.”

      Mamm had been following the conversation with her usual scrutiny. She nodded at the Wengerds. “I’m surprised you fellows left your nursery on this fine Saturday. I’d think your store would be very busy now that spring’s set in.”

      “You’ve got that right, Drusilla,” Nelson said. When he smiled, dimples and laugh lines bracketed his mouth. “We wanted to see the stable today while it’s open, so we left our assistants in charge.”

      “Ah. Your wife and daughters, no doubt,” Mamm remarked.

      Jo sighed. Would the Wengerds think her mother was impossibly nosy?

      The men’s faces fell a bit, however. “No, my Verna went to be with her Lord a couple of years ago,” Nelson replied softly. “My daughter, Salome, married and moved to Ohio to live with her husband’s family. We have a couple of young folks from our church who work for us through the busiest months.”

      “Well, we’re glad you’ve come today,” Jo put in quickly, “and we’re really glad you’ll have flowers and vegetables to sell with us.”

      “Can’t you picture the stable with its new black roof and black shutters, along with a fresh coat of rustic red paint—and window boxes of your colorful flowers?” Martha Maude asked as she gestured toward the building. “We think it’ll be a big draw for folks passing by on the highway.”

      “Sounds fine to me,” Nelson said. “We plan to bring hanging baskets, as well—”

      “And we’ll plant some flower beds around the building as soon as we know what the other plans for the grounds are,” Michael added. “It’s great that there’s so much room for parking, and that we’re outside of town where there won’t be a lot of traffic noise. Morning Star’s a bigger, busier city than I expected!”

      Jo nodded. “It’s basically an English town where we Amish and some Mennonites have found some affordable farmland to settle on,” she said.

      Nelson was studying the property immediately around the stable. “If possible, I’d like to position our flowers on the side of the building facing the road, and have space inside for selling gardening supplies and seeds,” he said, pointing toward the end of the building. “Do you suppose I can use that door on the end? And have our shop space right inside there?”

      “I’ll write you into the floor plan,” Jo said happily. “Nobody’s spoken for space on that end yet.”

      Nelson’s face lit up, and he looked years younger, pleased that his requests were already being granted. “What shall we plant in those window boxes to make them pop, Drusilla? What are your favorite summer flowers?”

      Mamm looked stunned. Jo, too, was surprised at Nelson’s question—and secretly pleased that he’d managed to stump her mother.

      “Well, you can’t go wrong with geraniums,” Mamm replied after a moment.

      The Wengerds were both nodding. “The boxes will be in full sunlight,” Michael pointed out, “so how about some white geraniums, purple petunias, and bright green sweet potato and vinca vines to hang down a bit—and big yellow and orange marigolds?”

      Mamm blinked. “Sounds awfully flashy for a Plain—”

      “A rainbow!” Jo blurted out. She was delighted that the nurserymen wanted to put such bright colors in their boxes, because her mother would’ve stopped with the geraniums.

      “And if we build a pergola near the building for the hanging baskets, that’ll give us more display space so customers can select what they’d like—and more color to attract folks from the road,” Michael suggested.

      Jo wasn’t sure what a pergola was, but she really liked the way these men were thinking. “We’ll have some wood you can use for that pergola after we dismantle some of the stalls inside the stable,” she said. “Let’s go inside so you can meet Glenn. He’s remodeling the interior for us, so he—or our other foreman, Pete Shetler—can build whatever structures you’d like, once they’ve finished remodeling the stable.”

      As the rest of the morning passed, Jo was gratified by the sense of teamwork and excitement everyone shared. The Wengerds met people easily and talked with Glenn and the other men over Rose’s chili and the creamy chicken and noodles the Helfing twins brought for the men’s lunch. Delores Flaud and her girls stopped by with large bowls of fruit salad and coleslaw. Lenore Otto provided pies and a fresh urn of hot coffee, while Lydianne brought a big chocolate cake. Regina furnished wet wipes and trash bags, and she cleaned up after everyone ate.